The Charred Soulstone
by DeathlordArthas
Summary: Takes place exactly a year after the events of Diablo 3 end.
1. The Demon Hunter

CHAPTER 1: The Demon Hunter

_Thump, Thump, Thump, _went Dorieln's feet on the cobblestone road. _Thump, Thump, Thump, THUNK. _Dorieln stopped in his tracks. He had not taken a heavier step than earlier. He turned around slowly and saw a barrel rolling around on the street, trailing garbage. Dorieln shrugged, and continued on his way. _Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, SMASH! _Dorieln jumped at the sound and spun around. Still nothing could be seen, but there was a large amount of glass on the ground, some of it singed and a trace of blood. He walked slowly towards the glass and looked to the left. There was a broken window with a bit of blood splashed on it. He turned to his right and saw the body of a man in the alley. The man coughed, and curled up into fetal position, clearly drunk. Dorieln chalked it up to a bar fight. He liked that kind of chaos, but he had other things on his mind. He turned around and went on his way. _Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, POW!_ Dorieln ducked just in time as a large stone hurtled over his head, drawing his crossbow he ran towards the source. _POW! _Dorieln lunged to the side to avoid another stone. _POW!_ Dorieln kept his pace and went into a roll, just as another projectile was hurled at him with another loud _POW! _Dorieln broke out of his roll and jumped into the air and brought his knees up to his shoulder as another stone shot beneath him. By now he was within range of the source of the projectiles. He rolled into an alley off to the side.

"Damn, Joz-ak! You have terrible aim!"

"Well, MAYBE if you didn't rush me, I might have gotten more time for a square shot!"

"Fine, whatever, let's just go look for him." The two men walked away from their cannon, which they had set up in the middle of the road. The two men walked into the alley way, Joz-ak in the lead. "I think he got away, Mod-an." Silence answered him. "Mod-an?" Joz-ak turned around and saw that his companion was nowhere to be found. He looked up and saw Dorieln perched on the edge of one of the buildings, with Mod-an slumped against the wall on other side of the alley. Joz-ak tried to let out a shout but was silenced by Dorieln's boot.

Mod-an awoke with a nasty bruise on his face and Joz-ak slumped forwards beside him. Both were tied to sturdy chairs. Mod-an shot a hasty whisper at Joz-ak. "Are you awake?" No reply. "Are you even ALIVE?"

"He's absolutely fine... for now." Mod-an looked ahead to see Dorieln approaching him.

"What... what... what do you want with us?" Mod-an stuttered

"I want to know who employed you to kill me."

"Nobody did."

"I don't buy that. You were clearly trying to kill me, but I'd never done anything to you. Therefore, someone must have put you up to it."

"We weren't even trying to kill you."

"You... weren't?" Dorieln asked.

"We were hired by a man who stayed in the shadows, but we could still clearly make out his eyes. Bright red. VERY bright red. He wanted us to CRIPPLE you but leave you alive, then bring you to him."

"WHAT?! Where is this man!?"

"We don't know... he arranged a meeting place for us to drop you off."

"WHERE?" Dorieln roared.

"I will not tell you."

A boot in the face was enough to convince Mod-an to elaborate.

"He wanted us to meet him at the-" Mod-an was cut short by the _thwip_ of an arrow in his arm, and then fell limp. Dorieln checked his pulse, but there was none. He stepped back just in time for another arrow of the same to miss him and hit Joz-ak. Dorieln didn't even flinch but yanked the arrows out of Mod-an's arm, locked it into his crossbow, and fired it out the window through the hole the first arrow had come. He heard a man shout out in pain, as a_ thunk_ sounded, the result of Dorieln's victim hitting the ground. Dorieln noted that the arrow and the fall would have killed him, and moved over to Joz-ak's arrow and pulled it out of his arm. On closer examination, there proved to be a poison not of Sanctuary tipping the blade. Dorieln immediately knew who contracted the men and the archer.


	2. The Wizard

CHAPTER 2: The Wizard

Morganiel sipped his drink slowly and cautiously. There was a whisper in the crowd involving him, but he did not care. As long as they didn't provoke him, he would not care in the slightest. The sound of footsteps came up behind him. "Hey, you." A voice sounded behind him. Morganiel glanced over his shoulder. The man standing there was large, bulky, and clearly very drunk. "SCUM!" roared the man, aiming an ale-strengthened cross at Morganiel's face. Morganiel simply leaned backwards away from the drunken punch, and swung his leg out in an arc away from the stool. The drunk let out a shout of pain and fell to the ground. Morganiel spun around on his stool and went back to his drink. The man stayed on the ground for a brief moment and then stood up, chuckling slightly. He aimed another punch at the back of Morganiel's head without a warning, surprisingly silent for a drunk. Morganiel leaned to the side, grabbed the arm before it could even hit the counter, twisted it around and wound up holding the drunkard's arm in an awkward position behind his back. The drunk swung his foot backwards in an attempt to break free but Morganiel sidestepped it and shoved the drunkard to the ground. The man shoved off the ground in an upwards motion just as someone walked by outside the window. As the drunk charged towards Morganiel, Morganiel drew out a short stick of solid oak and a book. The drunk was barely inches away from Morganiel when the stick was pointed at the drunkards, head, a word was uttered from the book, a burst of light filled the room, and the drunk was hurled out the window into the street. The entire tavern looked on in shock, and Morganiel sat back down at the stool to sip his drink.


End file.
